MAY 2015

Chhavi Rajawat
Women Sarpanch
M
y village had not seen much
development in the twenty
years prior to my being elected
as Sarpanch. During these twenty
yearsthe condition of the village had
gone from bad to worse. Prior to that,
in the late 70s the village roped in my
grandfatherin a similar manner and
unanimously appointing him as the
Sarpanch. Brig. Raghubir Singhji (my
grandfather) had just retired from the
army in 1975. He had received the
gallantry award of Mahaveer Chakra
during the 1965 Khemkaran sector war
and was called “Savior of Punjab”.
My purpose in agreeing to become
the Sarpanch was to play the role of
a facilitator – ie.,help bridge the gap
between the government and the
village and provide a medium to the
government to showcase success of
its schemes. In addition, also bridge the gap between the
private sector and the village to receive support in areas
where government is unable to provide a solution. What I
felt was needed was someone who could understand the
need of the village, mobilize the people and connect the
dots. I am a firm believer of a bottom-up approach – it is
vital to have the village residents be the key stakeholders
for any initiative to be “sustainably” successful.
With the initial success of reviving the reservoir and, quality
of work visible the faith the villagers had in me was further
strengthened. It helped me mobilize villagers to be more
participatory and provide support in various other initiatives
such as removing encroachments on their own accord
from common passages to construct concrete roads with
drains. We planted trees and tried to educate the villagers
to stop cutting trees and work
towards maintaining an ecological
balance. Various health camps
have been organized over the past
few years wherein many cataract
surgeries have been carried out.
We have also organized camps
with a lady gynecologist visiting
the village to focus specifically
on women’s health issues. The
children and youth of the village
volunteer in cleanliness drives
at regular intervals wherein they
pick the spot of their choice in the
village. In addition an individual
from within the village has been
employed by the Panchayat to
keep the village streets clean.
Government plays a very important
role of course and I wish our
system were made accountable
in ensuring efficient disbursement of funds thatrarely
happens – siphoning off of funds is only phase two of the
problem which, give the way our Panchayat functions we
have not experienced. One can be honest and still deliver,
yes it is not easy but patience and perseverance does bring
its reward. Information about the various schemes needs
to be shared with the villagers and Panchayats and team
work respected and celebrated. With such partnerships
and support the process of development in the rural sector
could easily speed up.
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